Gigantic Black Hole Shines Brighter Than Anything Known, Devours A Sun Every Day

Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected an extremely bright quasar that is being powered by a supermassive black hole with an insatiable appetite for destruction. The supermassive black is believed to be growing in mass every day by devouring the equivalent of one Sun every 24 hours, making it the fastest growing black hole known to date.

According to the European Southern Observatory, black holes that power quasars like the one detected collect matter from the area surrounding it in a process that is so energetic that it causes the “vast amount of light.” For this reason, quasars are known to be some of the brightest objects in the night sky. The recently detected quasar, known as J0529-4351, is so far away from Earth it takes the light being emitted from it 12 billion years to reach us, astronomers say.

“We have discovered the fastest-growing black hole to date. It has the mass of 17 billion Suns, and eats just over a Sun per day,” explained Christian Wolf, an astronomer at the Australian National University and lead author of a study published in the journal Nature. Wolf concluded, “This makes it the most luminous object in the known Universe.”


The study also indicated that because of the amount of mass being pulled toward the supermassive black hole, the energy being emitted causes J0529-4351 to be 500 trillion times brighter than the Sun. Co-author of the study, Samuel Lai, added that all the light originates from a “hot accretion disc that measures seven light-years in diameter,” and this makes it possibly the largest accretion disc in the known Universe. To put the diameter in perspective, seven light-years is around 15,000 times the distance from the Sun to the orbit of Neptune.

Even with its enormous size and brightness, the astronomers were surprised to find that J0529-4351 was hiding in “plain sight.” Christopher Onken, an astronomer at the Australian National University, remarked, “It is a surprise that it has remained unknown until today, when we already know about a million less impressive quasars. It has literally been staring us in the face until now.”

The European Southern Observatory says that the supermassive black hole associated with J0529-4351 will be a perfect target for future observations by the GRAVITY+ update on ESO’s VLT Interferometer (VLTI). After the update, the telescope will have a greater capability of accurately measuring the mass of black holes, including ones as far away as the one associated with J0529-4351.